Ben Verlander plays in the shadow of his brother at Old Dominion University. / Peter Casey, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

NORFOLK, Va. -- The larger-than-life faces and bodies of former Old Dominion University baseball players beckon from the outfield grass. In right center, next to his retired No. 35 and last name, is a frozen blue-and-white image of Justin Verlander in the middle of his pitching motion splattered on the wall.

A few feet away stands Monarchs right fielder Ben Verlander, quite literally playing in the shadow of his famous brother.

But the pressure of being Justin Verlander's little brother is not showing, as Ben, 21, leads the team with a .367 batting average, a .633 slugging percentage and 10 home runs this season.

A year ago, though, Verlander hit .250 while posting an 8.83 ERA. So Verlander, brother of the game's most dominant pitcher, is now a full-time hitter, and that's good for him, his family and Old Dominion, which already has recorded nine more wins than it did all of last season. But, mostly, it's best for Verlander. Almost instantly by making the decision to give up on pitching, a 6-5, 225-pound Cy Young Award-winning weight was lifted off his shoulders and relegated to the outfield wall.

"When Justin got drafted, we all kind of lost our identity for a little while," says Ben and Justin's mother, Kathy. "I'm Kathy; my husband's Richard. We became 'Justin's parents.' Ben became 'Justin's brother.' And that's fine. We love Justin, and we are very happy with his accomplishments. But I think Ben is now making his own way.

"Everybody will always ask him questions about Justin; he'll never get away from that. Nor would he want to. He loves Justin, and he's very proud of Justin, and so are we. But now people are noticing, 'Hey, Ben's really, really good at this hitting business.'"

Verlander, a junior, is not an elite prospect and not projected to be selected early in the next month's MLB draft, certainly not in the first round like his brother was in 2004. Still, with each swing of the bat, Verlander improves as a hitter and scouts start to take a longer look. He's one step closer to making the the majors as Ben, not just Justin's brother.

"I think the world will put enough pressure on him," Justin says, laughing. "I don't need to do any of that."

'CAN'T BOTH RETIRE 35'

Verlander was born nearly nine years after Justin, so he spent a good portion of his childhood at his brother's baseball games. On the sides of those fields, Verlander played with other players' siblings, entertaining themselves with their own balls and strikes, not their older brothers'.

But just like his brother, Verlander fell in love with baseball early - and he naturally aspired to be like Justin. When Verlander made his first Little League all-star team, he was thrilled, mostly because he was able to nab Justin's No. 35. He called up his brother, then at Old Dominion.

"He was like, 'Thanks for doing that, but you should go your own way. Don't try to be like me,'" Verlander recalls. "That really meant a lot to me, and I changed my number. â?¦ It made me realize that he's amazing but I want to be my own person."

Plus, Ben jokes, "We both can't retire 35."

Perhaps they could, had Verlander chosen a different college. But he liked the Monarchs coaching staff - which wasn't the same one from Justin's era - and the coaches liked him. He signed on the first day he could, knowing that high expectations would follow the Verlander name to Norfolk.

"When I was pitching, there were always comparisons (and comments like), 'He's going to throw 100 miles per hour,'" Verlander says. "He's freakish. That's not very likely."

Says Kathy: "Whenever he got up on the mound, things got quiet. Everybody kind of knew, 'Verlander's up, let's see what he can do.' Even when he was batting, even if he got to first base, you could always see the first baseman chatting it up with him. â?¦ I used to worry. I wanted both of my boys to have fun. As all parents do, we want our children to do well. Justin's a hard act to follow."

Beyond the questions Verlander faced, there's also the record book. Justin's name is all over it; he's Old Dominion's strikeout king, averaging 12.9 per nine innings. In 2004, Justin left Old Dominion as the career strikeout leader of the school, the Colonial Athletic Association and Virginia (Division I) with 427 in 3352/3 innings. That June, Justin was drafted No. 2 overall by the Detroit Tigers. Ben was 12.

As Justin's career blossomed in the majors, expectations ballooned for Verlander. But pressure never came from his parents or brother.

"I just give advice," Justin says. "Any questions he has or anything like that. In one corner, you've got a lot of pressure because you've got a brother in the major leagues. On the other side, if you need any advice or tough decisions or any coaching decisions, we have some of the best people here."

BIG-LEAGUE COACHING

That perks of having a brother in the majors came in handy when Verlander mulled the position change.

At the end of last season, Verlander sat down for an exit interview with Old Dominion coach Chris Finwood, who'd just finished up his first season in Norfolk. Finwood said what perhaps others had been nervous to put out there: It's time to pick hitting or pitching, and, hey, you've got a pretty good swing.

"I told him, 'This is going to have to be your decision, because I'm not going to be the guy that took Justin Verlander's brother out of pitching,'" Finwood says.

Verlander then spent a few months of summer league ball as an everyday outfielder before taking a trip in August to Detroit to visit his brother, like he does every year. Now that he was a full-time hitter, he met with Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon.

"He just asked some things; he's a very modest kid," McClendon says. "We just tried to create a little more balance for him. I've never seen a kid improve as much as he has from one year to the next."

McClendon says they focused on having Ben drive with his legs better, because his hand-eye coordination was already there.

"It completely changed everything," Verlander says. "It's called a toe-tap. Instead of a traditional load where you just go forward, your momentum goes backward then forward."

When he returned to campus in the fall, Verlander told Finwood about the change to his stance. Then he spent the fall in the batting cage and weight room, preparing for what would be a sensational spring season.

Everything came together for the first time in Old Dominion's game against Northeastern on March 9. Verlander hit three home runs - including a grand slam - to tie a school record and, in the process, reaffirm his decision to become a full-time hitter.

The home run outburst at first confused Justin, who couldn't watch the game live and was following from text messages from his father, Richard.

The first text came after the fourth inning: Ben just hit a grand slam!

Justin was thrilled.

A second text after the sixth: Another home run!

Justin was amazed.

The third text tripped him up: Another home run!

"(He called and said,) 'Wait a minute. Is this a repeat of the last text?'" Richard says. "I said, 'No, he hit another home run.' Justin gets really excited about all of it. He likes for us to keep him posted. Those texts usually get an immediate reply - not so much like all of my other texts."

ANOTHER YEAR AT ODU?

Verlander is expected to be drafted in June, and if he stays in college for another year he'd likely be drafted in 2014 as well. The Tigers took him in the 46th round out of high school in 2010, largely as a symbolic gesture to the family.

Now Verlander wants to be drafted because a team wants him.

"He doesn't just want to be a throw-in guy - he wants to have earned it," Finwood says. "He's got a good head on his shoulders about it. He wants to make sure he's ready. He'll probably get drafted this year, who knows where. You've got kind of a mixed bag on him from a pro scout's standpoint, because he doesn't have a long track record and he's still learning a position.

"My personal opinion is he's a guy who should sign after his senior year."

Verlander already has topped his brother at one thing - hitting. Justin never had an at-bat at ODU and is 0-for-24 in his MLB career. And don't think that has gone unnoticed in the Tigers clubhouse.

"(I tell Justin) his brother will get his first major league hit before him, so I'm going to hold him to it," McClendon says.

Justin shakes his head but smiles, too. "It's looking more and more accurate," he says.